a lucky morning
During summer in the Rocky Mountains, early mornings are normally lovely and cool. This year, the mornings have been a good deal warmer than normal but given lower light and a bit of moisture in the air, it is a pleasure to step outside, smell the air and view one's surroundings. You may recall, we had been on chrysalis watch after seeing the caterpillar stage of a Papilio polyxenes or American swallowtail. You saw this several blogs ago, but just as a reminder, here is the caterpillar stage.
It was quite exciting when I noticed a chrysalis on a lavender stem. Having no clue what would eventually emerge from it, all I could do is wait. Probably a butterfly, but which butterfly? There is an abundance of swallowtails flying the neighborhood, in addition to many other butterflies. Reading that the chrysalis stage lasts between 7 and 10 days, and that the speed depended on the temperature, the best I could do is check every day to make sure it was still intact. You may remember this from my 21 July blog.
Last Thursday, as was our habit, we were about to go for our standard three mile walk when Fred came into the house saying "You had better grab your camera now." The rather rough looking off-white object in the lower left hand third of the photograph, was torn and empty, and a female black swallowtail was drying its wing. I have chased butterflies with my cameras for years, but have never seen one newly emerged, with all the wings perfectly intact, undamaged, and ready to fly. The female of the species is very different from the male, the dots of which are bright yellow rather than a light cream color, as shown in the image below. Both sexes have the blue and orange markings on their wings.
Who would have thought that concrete and macadam pavement would provide such interesting backdrops?
After having seen the evolution from caterpillar to butterfly, I now know why children get such a thrill out of cutting a plant stem with a caterpillar on it, putting it in a jar, watching it create a chrysalis, and then become a butterfly. A better demonstration of one of nature's wonders is hard to find, and it was just plain lucky to see and photograph it.
Thanks to Anne, Marilyn R., Lisa S., Jean & Sam, Catherine S., Barbara F. R., TTT, Dave O., Paule, Steve, Brenda, M.Fred, Marilyn G., Lawrence, and Char for your very kind comments about last week's blog featuring Fred's rugs.
until next Monday,
DB
a passion for the image©
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Comments
Your dedication, Fred's attention and a little luck have given us a summer treat. Thanks.